The adult Little Black Caddis is what most anglers imitate. They are usually on the surface of the water for several seconds and sometimes up to a minute or two before they can fly. It depends on the water and air temperature. They usually hatch in water that's about 50 degrees but it can lower or higher depending on the time their pupae have fully developed. You can catch trout during the both the hatch and the egg laying event on the dry fly.

About the time the hatch is ending, which is usually about 3:00 to 4:00 PM, you will start to see female adults from previous day's hatches showing up to lay their eggs. They do this in the same fast water they hatch from but near the ends of the runs and riffles. They dip down and actually touch the water several times to deposit the eggs. This activity can go on until it is dark, so the dry fly action can last most of the afternoon on some days.

An adult Little Black Caddis.

The body of these caddisflies, which is the same color of its wings, can have a dark green or tan lateral line down its sides, but it's very much subdued and not present on some species. Their wings are a rather plain slate gray with some lighter gray spots. This one has only a few light spots, some of which are tiny, but often they have about 50% of the area of their wings with lighter spots of gray. This shouldn't affect the fly you use any. The trout see mostly their bottom side. I'm mentioning it just for identification purposes.

Down and Dirty (some are clean) Tips and Recommendations for Fly Fishing Destinations - Part 32Just keep in mind that it is strictly one opinion that happens to be mine. The intent is to hopefully give those interested a general idea of what to expect. Most likely every guide, affiliated business entity and local angler will have a different opinion. These streams also have full coverage on our Perfect Fly Stream Section.

Big Hole River MontanaThe Big Hole is certainly one of Montana's better trout streams but all in all, I think it's a little overrated. What you would think of it would depend greatly on the time of year you fished the river. Also, where you fish the river could make a huge difference in how you rated it. It has all types of water. Of course, both these things are true of any larger river but with the Big Hole, I think these two factors make a far more than normal difference.

For one thing, as far as I'm concerned, you shouldn't even think about fishing it during June or July anywhere in the Big Hole Valley. You will be in mosquito heaven. They flood the valley for agricultural purposes and create the perfect habitat for mosquitoes. The mosquitoes can be so thick it can be frightening. The headwaters and lower sections can be fished during the this time. This greatly reduces the amount of time the river can be fished. The Montana season is a short one to begin with. There is snow on the ground about five months of the year.

The headwaters consist of the typical, small stream pocket water with smaller trout. The section in the Wisdom area consist mostly of slower to moderately flowing meadow water. There's a canyon section farther downstream and also plenty of wide, big water in the lower sections where fishing is mostly limited to drift boats. The river is over one hundred-fifty miles long. It has all four species of trout, and even grayling in one area, but the species that are present depends on the section of the river you're fishing.

I think this is an "A" minus stream and the minus is there just because everything is highly dependant on when and where you fish the river. Check out the Big Hole River.